Report: Spurs were sixth most profitable team in NBA

Grantland’s Zach Lowe tucked an interesting little tidbit near the end of a larger piece on Jason Kidd’s move to Milwaukee regarding the Spurs’ profitability.

A confidential league memo acquired and verified by Grantland indicates that the Spurs, despite having to pay into the league’s revenue-sharing system, were the sixth-most profitable team in the NBA last season. Lowe did not include the total, but did so for the top five:

Lowe indicates that a “boatload” of the Spurs’ profit was generated independently from the league.

Forbes rated the Spurs as the 10th-most valuable franchise in the NBA during their most recent evaluations at $660 million, with an operating profit of $39 million on revenues of $167 million. The magazine uses estimates rather than specific data available to the NBA.

The biggest losers for 2013-14? Brooklyn, which finished $144 million in the red.